Operational excellence in aerospace and defense manufacturing
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perational excellence in the digital factory WRIT TEN BY
DA LE BENTON PRODUCED BY
TOM VENTURO
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With an advanced manufacturing facility, providing the digital factory of the future, Aerospace Rocketdyne demonstrates operational excellence or over 70 years, Aerojet
and the industry has changed a lot
Rocketdyne has delivered
in the past decade,” he says. “With
innovative solutions to
Aerojet Rocketdyne today, I am
aerospace and defense market
managing a group of outsourcing
customers all over the world. The
partners that provide IT services to
company provides propulsion and
our company. I look at strategy and
energetics technologies to space,
technology development and then
missile defence, strategic, tactical
work out how we bring those
missile and armaments customers,
technologies to the operation side
and lives and dies by a simple
of things so that we can start
mission: to build a ‘brighter future
implementing those enhancements
for the next generations… who look
while adding business value to our
to new frontiers and advances in
internal customers.”
F 04
global technologies’. As technology continues to
Working with customers across a market as delicate and important
disrupt and redefine industries and
as the defence and aerospace
markets all over the world, such
industries, where information and
a leading company as US-based
data are key, there is one conversa-
Aerojet Rocketdyne must evolve in
tion surrounding technology that
a changing landscape. This is
continues to grow even today.
something Chief Technology Officer
“There’s definitely a major focus
(CTO) Alan Avakian understands.
on cybersecurity, given the number
“Technology continues to leapfrog
of high-level security breaches that
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“ WHAT DOES ‘DONE’ LOOK LIKE IN OUR WORLD? WE ARE CONSTANTLY FIGURING OUT HOW WE GET THERE, WHILE BEING ABLE TO MEASURE OURSELVES ACROSS THAT JOURNEY” — Alan Avakian, Chief Technology Officer (CTO) at Aerojet Rocketdyne
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have happened over recent years
learning as well as robotic process
across the globe,” says Avakian. “Right
automation (RPA) which helps
now, it’s all about how we protect our
companies like Aerojet Rocketdyne
company assets and information, and
develop new opportunities and new
make sure it is maintained for competi-
markets that previously did not exist.
tive advantages. Then we look at how
Avakian points to Uber as an example.
we enable those critical business
“Nobody dreamed up Uber ten years
capabilities where we can focus in on
ago but here it is today and it’s a
digitisation, retire high-risk legacy
multi-billion-dollar company,” he says.
systems and look towards creating
“That’s what AI and robotic machine
intelligence out of that information.”
learning are providing us with: they’re
This, he feels, is where we see an industry-wide turn towards robotics, artificial intelligence (AI) and machine
creating new markets for companies that don’t even exist yet.” The challenge, then, as Aerojet
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“ WE’RE AT A VERY PIVOTAL POINT WITHIN THE WORLD RIGHT NOW WHERE THE ENVIRONMENT IS CHANGING RAPIDLY. IT’S DIFFERENT FROM WHAT IT WAS IN YEARS PAST AND INFORMATION APPEARS TO BE KING. SO, IT’S HOW DO WE USE THAT INFORMATION TO OUR ADVANTAGE AND CAPITALIZE ON IT GOING FORWARD?” — Alan Avakian, Chief Technology Officer (CTO) at Aerojet Rocketdyne
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CLICK TO WATCH : ‘FUEL FOR THOUGHT – S1 E3 MARS INSIGHT’ 07 Rocketdyne moves into new markets
country, the challenge is accelerated.
and explores new opportunities
“Our customers are looking for that
through technology and innovation,
innovative solution that provides those
becomes one of catering to new and
technologies or competitive edges,
evolving customers. The customer of
but does so from an affordable
today requires cost-effectiveness
perspective where increased competi-
without compromising on quality.
tion is encouraged to get the best
Avakian recognises that the company
value proposition,” he says.
must be able to provide its market lead-
“So whenever I’m thinking of those
ing best practices, all the while doing
new things that are innovative and
so in a cost-effective way and main-
cutting edge, I’m always thinking about
taining a competitive advantage. When
how we can implement them in such
working with NASA to put satellites
a way that it is secure and meets our
into orbit and providing missiles and
customers’ requirements as well as
defence systems to protect the
enabling the business so that we can w w w.ro c ket . com
AEROJET ROCKETDYNE
start accelerating things. It’s about getting to a point where we’re innovating and being able to provide IT using a services model versus building it in as an on-premise solution.” As a testament to this understanding, Aerojet Rocketdyne has invested in the construction of an Advanced Manufacturing Facility in Huntsville, Alabama. This new facility represents complete technology enablement through the use of information, since Aerojet Rocketdyne prototyped a number of digital factory initiatives that utilise IT through automation, robotics and even 3-D printing equipment. “This facility and the innovation
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M A N U FA C T U R I N G
we are fostering there provides us with a competitive edge,” says Avakian. “We’re taking it to the next level where we implement more automation as it provides us with more information and creates markets that we didn’t have before.” “IT brings it all together: our manufacturing execution system, our product lifecycle management system, our ERP system and our business intelligence systems all working together to bring information to our fingertips. We can then start making better decisions based on that information.” 09
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Building and operating an Advanced Manufacturing Facility places Aerojet Rocketdyne at the cutting-edge of technology and innovation, but, as noted above, modern customers demand a combination of innovation and cost-effectiveness. To this end, as Aerojet Rocketdyne moves into new markets and develops new technologies, it must continuously assess its own capabilities to do so. One such way in which the company is doing this is through its Competitive Improvement Program. The goal of this program is a simple one: to ensure that its products are more affordable across the enterprise and 10
bring that value back to its customers. The Advanced Manufacturing Facility is but one part of this program as Aerojet Rocketdyne chose to consolidate its footprint; the next step is rationalisation across the entire enterprise. “It’s about our product affordability going back to our customers,” says Avakian, “and along with that we’re also reducing our administrative and overhead costs. In order to bring value back to our customers, it’s about making sure we’re using everything that we can from an efficiency and effectiveness perspective.” A Continuous Improvement Program is all well and good, but much like the information provided through automation and machine learning, Aerojet Rocketdyne must extract
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the value from this information in order to ensure that it is achieving what it set out to achieve. To this end, Aerojet Rocketdyne uses service level agreements, metrics, key performance indicators (KPIs) and critical performance indicators (CPIs) as a means of measuring the company against its strategy and architecture. “What does ‘done’ look like in our world? We are constantly figuring out how we get there and measuring ourselves across that journey,” says Avakian. “Using data to get there is very much 12
ingrained in our company so that we can ensure we’re making objective, quantifiable measurements to be able to evaluate if we did realise what we were trying to achieve in the beginning.” In the technology space, the
nies are able to “spin up environments
measurement of success is crucial
and applications with the snap of a finger
both internally and externally and with
and a click of a mouse.”
technology and innovation evolving at
“Now we can bring technology to our
an increasing rate, communication
customers more quickly,” he explains.
proves key. Avakian is a firm believer
“They can touch it and feel it and that
in proof of concepts and providing real,
provides them with the confidence that
tangible examples of the returns on
we can invest in it and provide that to
investment (ROIs) that technology can
the masses,” he says. “That’s how
bring. He feels that in today’s digital
I think it’s changed the value proposi-
age, this is more vital than ever since
tion while being able to get something
software as a service (SaaS) compa-
to market so much more quickly than
M A N U FA C T U R I N G
we could in the past.�
scape, it shows no sign of slowing
Aerojet Rocketdyne has been a market
down. Through sound investment in
leading innovator for more than 70 years
its Advanced Manufacturing Facility
and as technology has continued to
as well as its Continuous Improvement
define and redefine the market land-
Program, the company has readied
E X E C U T I V E P R OF IL E
Alan Avakian Alan Avakian is the Chief Technology Officer of Aerojet Rocketdyne. In this role, he leads the organisation’s Technology Management function responsible for shared business service strategy and operations including Networking, Infrastructure, Applications, and End User Support services. He coordinates with line-of-business leaders to understand their needs (including anticipated technology and product changes) and works with IT outsourcing partners for execution.
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“ WHAT IT DOES, IS BRING ALL THE DATA TOGETHER WHERE OUR MANUFACTURING EXECUTION SYSTEM, OUR PRODUCT LIFECYCLE MANAGEMENT SYSTEM, OUR ERP SYSTEM, AND OUR BUSINESS INTELLIGENCE SYSTEMS ALL WORK TOGETHER TO BRING THAT INFORMATION TO OUR FINGERTIPS SO WE CAN START MAKING BETTER DECISIONS” — Alan Avakian, Chief Technology Officer (CTO) at Aerojet Rocketdyne
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CLICK TO WATCH : ‘WITHOUT LIMITS’
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itself to cement its market leading position as it embraces the future of technology and innovation. Avakian recognises this and points to information as being the true enabler of technology, both today and tomorrow. “We’re at a very pivotal point within the world right now where the environment is changing rapidly. It’s different from what it was in years past and information appears to be king – so it’s about how we use that information to our advantage and capitalize on it going forward,” he says. “Staying in front of it will provide you with the ability to enable competitive advantages and things of that nature, as we successfully continue to do here at Aerojet Rocketdyne. We must share that information to be able to collaborate and get to these new things that weren’t even possible before.”
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Sacramento, Calif. Sacramento, CA 95813-6000, 13222 T +916-355-4000 www.rocket.com